Braose Web and More

A Christmas cracker

2010-12-21T23:40:00.003Z

George Brewes was the cousin of Thomas, whose tomb at Horsham has featured in some of my earlier postings. George seemed to live a rather profligate life as most of the records of him concern his debts. National Archives document C 131/226/26 is about a debt he owed in 1406 to Walter Cokesey. What’s the Christmas connection?

The huge debt of £3000 was recorded in court before Richard Whittington, Mayor of the Staple of Westminster – the well known pantomime character! We don’t know whether George Brewes met Dick’s famous cat.

Walter Cokesey was George’s sister’s grandson. When George died in 1418, he was buried in the Priory church of St Mary Overie, Southwark, later to become St Saviour’s, and now Southwark Cathedral. His heir was Walter Cokesey’s son, Hugh.

Merry Christmas!

Articles hosted by the Braose Web

2010-10-25T01:27:00.003+01:00

The Braose Web site hosts a group of articles which relate to the Braose or Brewes family. I have made access available via a new page of links.

The death of Joan Brewes by Paul Mackenzie

A debt of Peter de Brewes by Paul Mackenzie

The Maternity of John and Beatrix de Brewes by Paul Mackenzie

A note on the maternity of John and Beatrix de Brewes by Doug Thompson

A Review of the Ancestry of Richard de Brewes, husband of Alice le Rus by Paul Mackenzie

Feet of Fine between Richard and William de Braose (1271) by Paul Mackenzie

The Career of William III de Briouze in the Reign of King John: Land, Power and Social Ties

by Matthew Boulter

The Inquisition Post Mortem of John de Brewes by Doug Thompson & Paul Mackenzie

Steyning Museum Website

2010-10-06T23:44:00.002+01:00

I see that Steyning Museum have published a short history of the Braose lords of Bramber on their website.

http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/braose.htm

They have a Braose exhibit too.

http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/exhibits/exhibits8.htm

The website is worth a visit - and the museum itself if you live near Steyning! You could visit Bramber castle as well. (pictured right).

A 1403 case in court

2010-08-05T09:39:00.006+01:00

In 1403 there was a case at the Court of King's Bench between Margaret, the widow of Thomas de Brewes (d1395) and her new husband, William Burcestre on one side, and John Brewes (of Wiston), George Brewes and some associates on the other side. Margaret claimed that she had been disseised of her manors of Chesworth and Sedgwick, a life grant of which had been made to her by her husband. George Brewes was the cousin and heir of Thomas who claimed that Thomas had been "non compos mentis" when he made the life grant.

Eventually, (the case had been dragging on for years), John and George lost their case and had to pay Margaret the proceeds of the manors which they had appropriated.

Paul Mackenzie has transcribed and translated the original court records of the case and has made this available for all to see at the Your Archives site. The records confirm many relationships in the Brewes family.

The wife of Peter de Brewes of Wiston

2010-05-29T22:51:00.006+01:00

Paul Mackenzie has discovered some new information about the death of the wife of Peter de Brewes. It confirms that her name was Joan and, despite some inconsistencies, suggests a date for her death and burial at Missenden Abbey.

Paul has kindly agreed to make his work available for others to read via this page on the Braose website.

It is now looking even more likely that the arms in the window at Wiston, shown right, refer to this wife of Peter.

Peter de Brewes placed in Suffolk

2010-02-11T16:05:00.005Z

Paul Mackenzie of QLD, Australia, has sent me his latest finding on the Peter de Brewes of Wiston question.

He has transcribed and translated a document of 1353 concerning a debt of Peter de Brewes connected with his purchase of Chesham Bois manor. The document describes Peter as "knight of Suffolk".

We had previously been unsure whether the Suffolk had been a misreading of Sussex but Paul has found a useful comparison with another document which confirms the reading as Suffolk.

The lower picture shows the words "de Brewoes miles de com' Suff† " from the document in question. The upper picture shows the words "Robert de Ufford comes Suff†" from another roll. Robert de Ufford is known to be Earl of Suffolk, (comes Suff†) and the similarity of the formation is clear.

Hence, we are now sure that, in 1353, Peter de Brewes was resident in Suffolk.

The full story from Paul, including the transcriptions and translations, can be seen on this page at the BraoseWeb site.

Another John de Braose identified.

2010-02-01T17:24:00.009Z

It was recently brought to my notice by a friend (That's you John.) that the list of priests for the church of St Nicolas at Old Shoreham, Sussex includes a name which looks like some form of John de Braose. This John was recorded as priest in 1294 and I was asked if I knew of him.

I had to say that I had no knowledge of any John de Braose who could be matched with the priest.

But I was looking up some references on Bidlington hospital this week and came across a connection. There is a court case (Coram Rege Roll, Hilary 2 Edw III, ro. 102) between Thomas de Braose and his cousin, the baron, William de Braose. One of the arguments is whether Bidlington is a manor or a spiritual hospital. In this case the jurors say that William de Braose claimed to have presented John de Braose, his brother, as chaplain of the hospital. Most of the arguments seem quite confused but the confirmation that William had a brother John who was a priest seems to fit well with the person who was incumbent at Old Shoreham in 1294.

William de Braose's father, another William, had three wives, so the question left now is – which wife was John's mother?

The picture shows Old Shoreham church, depicted by S H Grimm in 1782. (Click on picture to see large version.)

Addition: The Bishop of Chichester's Register shows that Bishop Gilbert (1288 - 1305) admitted John de Brous to the chantry of the hospital of the Blessed Mary at Bidlington.

Further Addition: (extract from "The Story of Shoreham" by Henry Cheal pp195/6)
Circa 1295-6, John de Brewose, who was doubtless of the family of the Lord of Bramber. He is described in an Assize Roll 23 and 24 Edward I., as "parson of the Church of Old Shoreham," and as making complaint that Edmund Earl of Cornwall, Gilbert de Mulsham and eight other persons had unjustly deprived him of a plot of ground containing 60ft in length and 31 ft in width. The jurors said that " Gilbert and all the others except the Earl, unjustly disseised John de Brewose of the tenement he claims, therefore it is agreed that John recover possession thereof and his damages. Gilbert and the others in mercy, and. John de Brewose in mercy, for a false claim against the Earl, pardoned."

The Haxey Hood

2010-01-05T09:24:00.007Z

Alina de Braose may have been responsible for the origin of an annual sporting event in Lincolnshire!

See Hambo Central - Mon 4 Jan 2010.

The Clifford Connection

2009-12-31T17:55:00.011Z

There has been some debate about the arms represented in this shield displayed in the window of Wiston church in Sussex. It has usually been described as Brewes impaling Clifford which would imply the existence of an Anneys de Clifford with a Brewes as husband. However, the glass in the window only gives a slight indication of the "fess gules" which would be needed on the field "checky or and azure" to confirm the Clifford connection. There are several other sets of arms which could easily fit the present observed state of the glass.

By coming across Grimm's 1781 drawing of the Brewes tomb in Horsham, I have been able to add a new insight into the question. The memorial includes five shields along one side which today show no trace of the arms which were once displayed. But Grimm, in 1781, was able to see more. He was able to depict the arms displayed on each shield. In particular, the one on the far left, shown here, is a repeat of the Wiston window, this time clearly confirming the Clifford arms. The drawing uses the standard heraldic code to show colours; dotted for "or", horizontal hatchings for "azure" and vertical hatchings for "gules".

This confirms the existence of a Brewes - Clifford marriage (without letting us know who is concerned) and also suggests a fairly close relationship between the Brewes of Wiston and the Thomas Brewes buried at Horsham. Since both are commemorating this marriage, it is surely that of a Brewes who is closely related to both of them.

Peter de Brewes of Wiston - a new candidate for his father?

2009-12-18T23:58:00.003Z

Amongst the pleas of the king's army taken at Perth in 1296 is this one :

"John Lovel was attached to answer Alebinus de Whelton on a plea of trespass. Whereon he complains that when on Friday in Easter Week [30 March] in the said year he came with the king's army to Berwick, took lodgings and spent the night there and found some money there, on the following Wednesday John came and took the money, namely £29 13s 4d, and carried it off by means of his groom Thomas de Breuse. Later he took Alebinus and imprisoned him until the latter should agree to appear before the king's justices to declare his indebtedness to John for 20 marks, and to repay the money within a certain term. Furthermore, John kept Alebinus in this state until he agreed to make out for Sir Thomas Lovel, the brother of John, a note of discharge for 26 marks in which Thomas was indebted to him, whereby Alebinus has been wronged and has suffered damage."

I wondered who was this Thomas de Breuse, groom of John Lovel? He does not seem to be recorded elsewhere.

Perhaps a consideration of John Lovel will help. John seems likely to be Sir John Lovel of Titchmarsh. He was married to Joan de Ros, sister of Mary de Ros, mother of Peter de Brewes of Tetbury. That makes John Lovel the uncle of Peter de Brewes of Tetbury and all his siblings. Could it be that Thomas is a younger brother of Peter, as yet unrecorded?

If so he is likely to be younger than the last recorded brother, William, who seems to be born between 1274 and 1280. That is likely to make him under 16 years old in 1296, a good age for a groom.

The name Thomas is an indication too. Peter's oldest son was named Thomas - after his brother?

If Thomas had a son named Peter in a similar act of respect we have a good candidate for Peter de Brewes of Wiston!

The chronology for Peter of Wiston could never sit happily with his being a son of Peter of Tetbury who died in 1312 but it would work much better for a Peter who was the son of a younger brother.

Just another speculation to add in to the ongoing investigations!

Arms in Fressingfield Church

2009-12-09T10:07:00.019Z

Laurence Barber has a webpage showing pictures of many of the coats of arms displayed in Fressingfield Church. He asks for help in identifying whose arms they are. This post gives details about the three which have a Brewes connection.

This first set is that of William de Brewes with his wife Elizabeth Hopton.

The explanation is:

Quarterly, 1 & 4 Brewes, 2 Carbonel, 3 Shardelowe...impaling Hopton.

William's great grandfather, Sir John de Brewes, married Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir John de Shardelowe. I'm not certain how the Carbonel arms were acquired but they are associated with John de Shardelowe whose mother may have been a Carbonel heiress.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir John Hopton, but not an heiress, so the Hopton arms were not added to the family's achievement.

William Brewes' daughter, Thomasine, married Thomas Hansard and as an heiress, she carried the Brewes achievement to the Hansard arms.

This second set is that of their son Anthony Hansard, who married a daughter of the Lovells of Norfolk.

Here we have:

Quarterly, 1 Hansard, 2 Brewes, 3 Carbonel, 4 Shardelowe...impaling Lovell.

Again, the Lovell wife was not an heiress so the Hansard achievement was not augmented and their son carried the same arms.

Anthony Hansard died on 5th August 1517 and the wardship and marriages of his children was granted to his uncle Roger Townshend. Roger sold them on to Thomas Skipworth (or Skipwith) of Utterby. This third shield marks a marriage which resulted from this.

The arms show Hansard as before, impaling Skipwith.

Giles Hansard, the heir of Anthony, was married to Jane, the daughter of Thomas Skipwith.

The manor of Fressingfield had been a long-running cause of dispute between the Townshends and the Hansards which had been settled by Anthony. Giles was able to pass it on to his daughter Katherine who married Thomas Rouse.

The whole story of these three sets of arms is illustrated in the pedigree below.

The Wiston Question

2009-11-13T00:47:00.014Z

One of the biggest problems in the genealogy of the Braose/Brewes family concerns the Wiston branch. Just how do they relate to the rest of the family?

There were just two generations at Wiston. Peter de Brewes bought the manor along with four other Sussex manors in 1357. His son John inherited the estate but died without issue in 1426. His heir was his sister Beatrix, married to Hugh Shirley, and so the house and manor became the home of the Shirleys.

Peter was knighted after the battle of Crécy, and became a chamber knight to Edward III. He served the king for at least 20 years, dying soon after Edward in 1378. Peter held some estates in Buckinghamshire and he was granted fraternity at Missenden Abbey in April 1378, so he probably died there and was buried nearby.

His son John, however, seems to have made his base at Wiston in Sussex. When he died in 1426 he was commemorated by a magnificent brass in the church adjacent to Wiston House.

John is depicted here in an image derived from that brass.

Two Braose marriages are also commemorated in the windows of this church.

But just where did Peter and John fit into the Braose family? Who was Peter's father? You can read in some respected genealogical works that he was a son of Peter de Braose of Tetbury, making him a nephew of William de Braose, Lord of Bramber and Gower, who died in 1326. But there is no evidence to support this position.

Paul Mackenzie in Australia and I, in England, have been sharing our detailed research on this question for many years now but we have as yet been unable to come to any firm conclusions. Does anyone out there think they can help?

Wife of Thomas de Brewes

2009-11-05T15:55:00.009Z

Thomas Brewes, the last Baron Brewose, died in 1395 and was buried in St Mary's church, Horsham. I recently came across this 1781 drawing by Grimm of his monument there. It shows what used to be on the shields which today appear to be blank. The most interesting is the central one. It shows the Braose arms impaled with the arms of Ralph Cheney. (Seen much more clearly on the full size version you can view by clicking the image )

This lends support to a piece of information that I came across recently. In A Survey of London, John Stow (1603) lists amongst monuments in Aldgate church, "Dame Margaret daughter to Sir Ralph Chenie, wife to Sir Iohn Barkeley, to Sir Thomas Brues, and to Sir W. Bursir"

It is known that the widow of Sir Thomas Brewes, married subsequently to William Burcestre and John Berkeley, so now it seems clear that she was Margaret Cheney, daughter of Ralph Cheney, and her marriage to Sir Thomas Brewes is commemorated on his tomb by the impaled arms.

The Braose Arms

2009-11-02T21:00:00.008Z

The shield on the left, barry, shows the earlier set of arms used by the main line of the family down to Reginald and his son William. John de Braose of Gower probably used them too as his son William uses this set of arms on one of his earlier seals.

The second set of arms, lion rampant with crosslets, was used by this William on later seals and forms of these arms are used by most of the later Braoses or Brewes as they came to be called. I believe it may have been a variation on the arms of the Earl of Devon, Baldwin de Redvers, as I think that the William de Braose who adopted them was a close associate of this Earl's widow, Amicia de Redvers.